LIVERMORE FALLS — It was like an assembly line at the Fire Station on Thursday as absentee ballots were opened, unfolded and run through the counting machine.
Retired Deputy Clerk Dawn Young, who is filling in for a staff member on medical leave, used a letter opener to slit the envelopes, while poll worker Robin Beck removed the ballot and unfolded it so interim Town Manager/Town Clerk Amanda Allen could run each one through the machine.
They planned to count 506 of 554 ballots Thursday. The remaining 48 will be processed Tuesday.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Fire Station, which is a new venue this year. The main door to the station will be locked and entrance to the polls will be through the side bay doors in case it’s raining or cold, Allen said. The fire trucks will be removed. Voters will exit through the side door that goes into the front bays. Allen said she anticipates long lines.
There will be 10 poll workers and she anticipates having results no later than 9:15 p.m.
Voters are advised to use a pen and to make sure the ovals are filled in completely, but not to make any other marks on the ballots. Allen said she did a test run on a ballot, filling in one oval with a pen and another with just a dot. The machine would not count the ballot because of the dot, she said.
There were 1,829 registered voters in the 2016 presidential election.
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